Duesenberg Les Trem II Nickel TM85N

This is something I had wanted for a very long time. I ordered it for my Epiphone SG, but in the end I decided to install it on my new Harley Benton SC-450Plus, as I thought a vintage-style vibrato could do better on a guitar with coil split options. I think it is a fantastic piece of engineering, as elegant as it is simple.

I am not particularly good at tinkering with guitars beyond the usual truss rod / intonation adjustments. It literally took me 10 minutes to install the whole thing, so I would say it is really easy. It is solid, looks extremely good, and you could go back to stock whenever you want.

I ended up installing rollers, though many will disagree with me. I just find that there is no loss of sustain whatsoever and that the tuning stability (which is not bad already) comes out improved by a good bit. Now, rollers cost me about 4 quid in total at my nearest guitar shop, so I guess it's not a modification that is going to break the bank.

It works very well. It is extremely smooth and has a very nice action. Clearly, it is not intended to be a Floyd Rose and it isn't very good divebomb material, but it was not designed with this in mind either. In fact, it is a vintage-style vibrato and so it should be used.

However... it goes down a good two / two and a half steps, and up about one, so you can abuse it if you really, really want to.

In conclusion, absolute bargain. If you have a LP-style guitar, you kind of need it!

I am very happy with this Les Trem that I installed on my Sire H7, was so easy and quick to install and the guitar stays in tune no problem (I do also have locking tuners and a roller bridge which also helps the tuning stability) It totally does the job, no need to spend 4 times the amount of money for any other trem system! I had to apply DW40 to the spring area as it was a bit stiff to start with... and the only little complaint I have is that to put the guitar in its case I always have to carry the correct alan key to loosen the trems arm to fold it down... but overall I totally recommend the Les Trem! Thank you Duesemberg!

I quite like a Bigsby now and then on a guitar but let's be honest - how many have you played and thought you were wrestling with some ancient steam-engineering lever? Once in a while you find a really smooth one but think of all the stiff clunky ones you've played - and adjustment really isn't their strong point is it?

Well the Les Trem II is the smooth one. Not only is is stupidly easy to fit but you can adjust it really easy too, including that lovely ability to set the arm angle AND its length. Think of how many times with trems you found that with your arm in the natural playing position on that guitar, its trem is too high or too low or too far forward or too short. That's a thing of the past with this one - you can adjust it all.

If your guitar has a stop tail (like a Les Paul and a zillion other guitars) then you can fit this in the time it takes to fit new strings plus a minute for adjustment to suit your taste. I've tried it on a Les Paul and 335 so far - its staying on the 335 so I may have to consider buying another one!